There is the severe lack of quickly and easily deployable exterior fire protection for homes and other structures in the path of a wildfire. A very great need is apparent for a re-usable, affordable covering means that will not loose its fire protection properties even when deployed for many days in any type of weather.
There are two possible sources that will cause a home to ignite during a wildland fire: either from direct flames and/or from firebrands accumulating directly on the home. Even the large flames of high intensity do not directly ignite homes at distances beyond 200 feet. Fires adjacent to a home do not ignite it and firebrands can only ignite a home through contact.
The prevalence of wildfires around the country remains a significant public concern. Hundreds of homes and outbuildings in several states have been lost this year alone. While firefighters try to do their best to protect homes and other structures, the time spent doing so only serves to detract their attention and give the wildfire more time to grow.
Charging firefighters with the role to protect homes within the fire area draws them away from an offensive role of battling the fire into a defensive role of protecting homes from the fires. This adds a great deal of risk to their efforts and to the operation itself. Homes are sources of fuel for a wildland fire. If several homes catch fire, the intensity of the fire is magnified, threatening even more homes and wildland. Because so many firefighters, fire trucks, and airborne resources are focused on a single fire, other areas may be left shorthanded. All too often during periods of high fire danger, other fires are likely to start. These other fires may bum unrestrained because firefighters committed to a wildland fire threatening homes will not be released to fight a fire that is burning in unpopulated wildlands.
The insurance companies have had to pay claims in the billions of dollars due to wildfire losses. The United States Department of Forestry and indeed even the President of the United States are looking for ways to minimize wildland fire damage. With weather changes becoming more prevalent bringing less snow pack and rainfall, drought conditions are continuing to grow and we can expect many more wildfires in the future. The economic cost of wildland fires is staggering and a serious national problem. Resulting high costs of home replacement and displaced lives warrant a much closer look at a solution for this ongoing danger.
In conjunction with proper vegetation clearing in the nearby structure area, the present invention has potential to reduce home and out building ignition as well as to help improve emergency wildland-urban fire response strategy and tactics.
Given the hazardous conditions created by wildfires, the owner of a home or other structure at this time has little recourse for home and out-building protection. Apart from proper clearing of brush and close trees, currently the only means of accomplishing home protection during a wildfire is through application of fire retardant chemicals, which can be sprayed onto the structure. There are also fire retardant chemicals, which can be added to paints, or built into the construction materials. But these will still catch fire in the face of high heat or burning embers. For the homeowner, keeping an appropriate amount of chemical sprays on hand for rapid dispensing could be prohibitive both financially and with regard to actual physical safety during deployment of these chemicals. Most of the time it is up to fire fighters to treat the houses with retardant after determining which structures have a chance of being saved.
Extensive research shows that successful development and commercialization of a reliable and readily accessible process or apparatus to protect structures against a wildland fire has never been achieved. A thorough on-line literature search revealed no published information about the existence of or successful development of a home protection process of the type we propose.
Articles on various fire chemical retardants were found, and also literature from a company who is planning to sell rolls of material that can be wrapped around the structure before the fire comes. According to the company, xe2x80x9cthe material expands when exposed to fire to form a xe2x80x9ccocoonxe2x80x9d around the entire structure.xe2x80x9d However, no documentation is available to show that it actually works, nor are any photos available to help prove that a house can be adequately wrapped in this way.
According to our calculations, one would have to have 24 rolls of the wrap at 30 lbs per roll just to cover a 1500 square foot house. Each roll is 4 ft. widexc3x9750 ft. in length. After wrapping the house, a way would have to be devised to somehow close the edges of the material to form a barrier against the high winds, and airborne glowing embers present in wild fire conditions. The material is only said to last for 5 years and must be stored in a dry area. No pricing was available at the time we last checked. We feel that the chances of a homeowner actually trying to wrap his home as protection against wildfire are highly unlikely.
An example of an invention to accomplish structure protection is in U.S. Pat. No. 3,715,843 by Virgil Ballinger, Aug. 23, 1971 with his fire protection apparatus for a building. The present invention has similar objects or goals as the U.S. Pat. No. 3,715,843, however is approached differently using a non complex and permanent method. The common goal is to provide a cost effective and easy to use flame resistant structure cover. Although U.S. Pat. No. 3,715,843 has its merits, the cumbersome design, complicated use, time to install and inability to be permanently attached to a structure for immediate deployment speaks to the fact that U.S. Pat. No. 3,715,843 could never provide the user with convenience in protecting a structure. Indeed, simply finding the appropriate material in the appropriate size and then locating a crew and the overhead pulleys, booms, winches and other miscellaneous components needed for installation while a wildfire is on it way would certainly prove to be a challenge if not entirely unfeasible.
No specific prior art that is similar to the present invention in the specific design and purpose has been found. There is prior art that provide uses for similar mechanisms or apparatus, but not for the objective of the present invention. We have found no previous patents, which achieve or fulfill the purposes of the present invention.
The present invention has been developed to meet the requirements of ease of operation, ease of installation and cost-effectiveness. The present invention is intended to be permanently installed on the architecture of a structure and can be deployed or retracted with ease at any time. The apparatus system envisioned within the present invention will be customizable for each structure. This customization is accomplished by installing the apparatus of the present invention in series. The number of apparatus installed is determined by structure size, architecture and need. When fully deployed and all sections of material from all apparatus are connected, the resulting cover fully envelopes the structure for optimum protection. The present invention can also be used to protect decks and miscellaneous out buildings, such as garages, stables, and barns during a wildfire. The cost of the invention should be affordable to most homeowners or building owners.
Through utilizing the fireproof cover apparatus of the present invention, it is conceivable that the economic load on insurance, public and government agencies could be greatly decreased. Lives, investments and memories could be more readily preserved.
This invention relates to an original design for protecting homes and other structures from the devastating effects of wildland fire including glowing ash and firebrands. The process uses a series of easily deployed; pre-fitted covering material segments which when joined together will envelop the entire structure. This covering will be secure enough to last in a deployed position indefinitely, and will be retractable and reusable for many years. The entire system will be permanently attached to the architecture of the structure for immediately available deployment at any time. It is important to note that the deployment mechanism can use many variations of existing technology.
A lightweight highly fireproof material is secured at one end to a fireproof rigid circular element such as a heat resistant rod at one end.
The rigid circular element is encased within a fireproof housing, which is secured to the architecture of a structure.
The fireproof material is then extended off the roller and pulled over the section to be covered.
The material contains flaps at its outer edges on all sides of the fireproof material. These flaps extend beyond the boundaries of the main cut of the fireproof material. Each flap is designed to connect to an adjacent section of fireproof material from an adjoining covering apparatus of the present invention. Both the flap and the adjoining section of material contain a connection means to secure it on all sides to other connection points from nearby covering apparatus of the present invention.
Due to the fact that many structures have gables and dormer type architecture, which are obtrusive but will need to be covered during deployment, pre-sized pouches will be created through aligning pre-cut flaps provided within the fireproof material to quickly accomplish this.
These pre-fitted covering material segments when fitted together will cover the entire structure and create a strong barrier against glowing embers and firebrands that are present during wildfires.
A variety of lightweight fireproof materials exist on the market today such as NOMEX and KEVLAR, which are used in such things as firefighter clothing and in bulletproof vests. Unlike flame-retardant treated materials, NOMEX fibers are inherently flame resistant. The flame resistance is a natural property of the polymer chemistry. It will not diminish during the life of the fiber and NOMEX does not melt or drip. When NOMEX is used in conjunction with KEVLAR, excellent resilience and tear resistant qualities are available. Still other products exist on the market such as ZetexPlus, and several silica based products. Many of these high quality flame resistant materials are inexpensive and provide the necessary qualities required for the manufacture of the present invention.